CEI’s Trauma-Informed Systems of Care Trains Houston Area Educators.

This summer, CEI’s Trauma-Informed Systems of Care (TISC) was invited by Communities In Schools-Bay Area to help them respond to the added stress Hurricane Harvey put on at-risk students. Teresa Strausz and Joyce McEwen Crane offered a training to help support professionals refine their approach to assisting students. CIS-Bay Area provides direct support to students on fifteen campuses in the Houston area.

Teresa Strausz, director of CEI’s IMPACT center, says “Communities In Schools –Bay Area is an organization with a compassionate understanding of the students, families and schools they serve. Their dedication to recognizing trauma and its impact across multiple systems is a recommended approach to improving communities and those who live in them.”

“The Trauma-Informed Systems of Care approach believes that healing happens in relationships when students feel physically and psychologically safe. One does not have to be a therapist to be therapeutic,” said Janet Summers, the Communities In Schools-Bay Area program director.

The Clear Lake Area Community Newsletter highlighted the work, including two main principles:

Healing happens in relationships.

Changing the question from “what is wrong with you” to “what happened to you.”

Peter Wuenschel, executive director of Communities In Schools-Bay Area, said “The training will help our staff provide students with tools to manage the impact of these events on their lives.”